Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Groton Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Groton, Connecticut 06340
Friday, June 2, 2006 14:40 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The crew briefed the Instrument Landing System approach, including the missed approach procedures. Weather at the time included a 100-foot broken cloud layer, and at the airport, 2 miles visibility. The approach was flown over water, and at the accident location, there was dense fog. Two smaller airplanes had successfully completed the approach prior to the accident airplane. The captain flew the approach and the first officer made 100-foot callouts during the final descent, until 200 feet above the decision height. At that point, the captain asked the first officer if he saw anything. The first officer reported "ground contact," then noted "decision height." The captain immediately reported "I got the lights" which the first officer confirmed. The captain reduced the power to flight idle. Approximately 4 seconds later, the captain attempted to increase power. However, the engines did not have time to respond before the airplane descended into the water and impacted a series of approach light stanchions, commencing about 2,000 feet from the runway. Neither crew member continued to call out altitudes after seeing the approach lights, and the captain descended the airplane below the decision height before having the requisite descent criteria. The absence of ground references could have been conducive to a featureless terrain illusion in which the captain would have believed that the airplane was at a higher altitude than it actually was. There were no mechanical anomalies which would have precluded normal airplane operation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The crew's failure to properly monitor the airplane's altitude, which resulted in the captain's inadvertent descent of the airplane into water. Contributing to the accident were the foggy weather conditions, and the captain's decision to descend below the decision height without sufficient visual cues.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/2/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1440 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Groton |
| Event State | CONNECTICUT |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 06340 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 411914N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0720308W |
| Event Location Airport | Groton |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | GON |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 5 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1456 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 50 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GON |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.84 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | 3 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 5 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22817 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Connecticut State Police |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 2 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2007 6:59AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Windsor Locks |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N182K |
| NTSB Number | NYC06FA137 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Gates Learjet |
| Aircraft Model | 35A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 239 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 18300 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 12 |
| Airframe Hours | 11704 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robertson Asset Management |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 977 Centerville Turnpike |
| Aircraft Owner City | Virginia Beach |
| Aircraft Owner State | VA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 23463 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | International Jet Charter, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. Box 41005 |
| Operator City | Norfolk |
| Operator State | VA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 23541 |
| Operator Code | IJ9M |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ACY |
| Departure City | Atlantic City |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | -- |
| Departure Time | 1347 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | GON |
| Destination City | Groton |
| Destination State | CT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - final approach fix (FAF)/outer marker to threshold (IFR) |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 9 2007 7:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MUZD |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 05 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |